Trapped In A Maze
by Mondhase
Summary: Sequel to 'Chained To A Sink'. Hunter's thoughts during episode 2x14 'Love In the Time of Hydra' as he finally finds out the truth behind Mack's and Bobbi's secret.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **Sequel to 'Chained To A Sink'. Hunter's thoughts during episode 2x14 'Love In the Time of Hydra' as he comes face to face with the so-called "real" SHIELD. This will most likely be three chapters long, and even though I've tried to stay with the tone of 'Chained To A Sink', it's probably a little different, simply given the fact that there is so much more direct interaction in Hunter's scenes in this episode than the previous one.

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**Trapped In A Maze - Chapter 1**

_What organisation, Mack? Who the hell are you working for?_

_SHIELD. The _real_ SHIELD._

The words are still running through Hunter's mind as Mack grabs his arm and starts leading him deeper into the base, the two armed guards who pulled him out of the helicopter earlier following closely behind.

This is nonsense, all of it, he thinks for a moment, but the SHIELD emblems on the walls they occasionally pass are telling him otherwise. They are telling him that, unless someone is playing a very elaborate ruse on him right now, there is actually another organisation that is claiming the catchy acronym as its title, and as he's pretty sure that even Director Coulson wouldn't keep something like this from him, apparently nobody even knows about their existence.

It's insane, really, and the longer he thinks about it, the more his head is starting to spin from all the secrets.

"So this is what all the fuss is about ... another SHIELD?" he finally asks as Mack is leading him through what seems to be some kind of control room.

He's looking around carefully, taking in every detail he can. Number of guards, personnel, possible exit routes, he memorises everything to make sure that if he gets his chance, if these people should be stupid enough to turn their backs on him for even a second, he's ready to get the hell out of here before anyone can stop him.

He's actually surprised that Mack has already removed the bag that has been covering his head for the last few hours during their travel. Hunter can only hope it's a sign that now that he has returned to his _real_ friends, the tall man walking next to him is beginning to lower his guard.

His jaw clenches briefly at the thought and he promises himself that the next time things between them get violent, _he _won't be the one who will be caught off guard. Mack might be a very big guy, and a surprisingly good fighter, but Hunter still has some tricks up his sleeve as well. He will make sure he won't be taken out as easily as before again.

He knows, however, that it's not the right time to make any escape attempts yet. For now he's too well guarded; plus, he still needs to get to the bottom of all this, although he's beginning to doubt there'll be a sensible answer anywhere down the road. When Mack actually has the audacity to tell him to lower his voice as they walk past all the agents working at their monitors and computers, it prompts a chuckle and an incredulous reply from Hunter, to whom the entire situation is starting to seem more and more unreal, crazy even.

Here he is, in handcuffs, being escorted by a group of armed guards and a man he would have called one of his best friends just yesterday, and all of that apparently on behalf of people who are calling themselves SHIELD, too. He's not sure his day can get any more ridiculous than that.

As he soon finds out, though, it can.

"You must be Lance Hunter." He's inside a conference room now as an old man walks up to him, supporting himself with a cane. 'Gonzales', as Mack calls him, is greeting him friendly, even offering to shake his hand after his cuffs have been removed, but Hunter just looks at him, thoroughly unimpressed.

If this guy actually thinks he's going to play nice, just because they haven't thrown him into some dark hole yet, he is utterly mistaken and the mercenary has no problem with letting him know that.

"And you must be crazy," he replies, simply staring down at the hand offered to him, until Gonzales gets the hint and walks over to sit at the head of the table, next to the three agents already sitting there, watching Hunter with varying degrees of concern.

So this is it then, he thinks as he's looking ahead with nothing but contempt in his eyes. These are the people who have been pulling the strings in the background, who have been giving Mack his orders, and Bobbi probably, too, and who, no matter if they _wanted_ it or not, have caused Hunter's entire life to shatter around him.

"I think I preferred you acting alone instead of taking orders from the clown academy," he quips at Mack, knowing all too well that as far as the agent is concerned, this right here excuses everything.

He has his _orders_ after all, doesn't he? People sitting in important looking armchairs, telling him what's right and what's wrong, making it oh-so-easy to forget even the most common decency and that even in this line of work it should be a big no-go to knock out and kidnap your own bloody friends. But maybe he's just being touchy.

"This is not about blindly following orders, Mr. Hunter. This is about leaders being held accountable."

"To the men and women they serve, as well as those that govern alongside them."

It takes everything Hunter has not to roll his eyes and groan as the 'real' SHIELD agents start with the sales pitch, trying to convince him that they are actually the good guys in this scenario.

Maybe their words would come with a bit less of a bitter aftertaste, if he hadn't been kidnapped off his own base, tied up in the trunk of a car, but the way things are, he has only spite and sarcasm to offer in return for their futile efforts.

The bald guy sitting next to Gonzales actually suggests throwing him in the brig at this point and even though Hunter instantly has the urge to punch him in the face, he also feels a weird rush of sympathy for the man. At least he's not pretending that they're all going to be friends at the end of this, or that they could sway his loyalties with kindness and a few nice sounding arguments.

He is a prisoner, kept here against his will and to pretend otherwise is more insulting than anything else. For the moment, however, Hunter decides to humour his captors and to at least listen to their explanations, because he really does want to know what the hell has been going on.

He almost laughs at Gonzales' insistence that they founded their SHIELD – the _real_ SHIELD, as they make so painfully sure to keep calling it – on the belief that leadership should operate with transparency and not from the shadows. Coming from a group of people, who have been operating from so deep in the shadows so far, that nobody even knows about their mere existence, Hunter thinks that is quite the ludicrous claim, but he doesn't say that out loud.

Instead he goes on to inform the bunch of arseholes sitting in front of him, that the one person their beef actually seems to be with, Nick Fury, is already dead, only that that is obviously just half of the truth. Because as it turns out, Nick Fury isn't the real problem to these people; it's Coulson and now Hunter finally understands what this is all about.

There is an extremely smug look on his face as he takes a seat, allowing himself to relax at least a little, now that he knows what kind of situation he's dealing with here. This isn't about some kind of ideology, not about good SHIELD vs. bad SHIELD, transparency vs. secrets, this is a power play, nothing else.

"You guys don't want Coulson in charge," he observes with a hint of a grin playing on his lips. As much as he's had his own issues with the man in question in the beginning, he knows that whatever problem Gonzales and his bunch of misfits have with the director, they're _wrong_. Coulson might have his secrets, a fair share of them most likely, but he isn't Nick Fury. Far from it, actually.

There are a couple of reasons why Hunter decided years ago to leave the military and to go into the private sector. The main two of those are money – he never denied that – and the fact that now he can choose who he wants to work for, whose orders he is willing to follow. Coulson offered him a place to stay when he had nowhere else to go, and even though Hunter knows that that proposition wasn't made out of the goodness of Coulson's heart, and more out of necessity, he doesn't regret that he took it and stayed.

He has had his fair share of superiors over the years, with quite a surprising number of bastards among them, but as far as people working in this business go, he knows that Coulson really isn't so bad.

"Well, I'm afraid we don't share in that opinion," Gonzalez replies to his observation in that kind and considerate tone that Hunter already finds annoying, as it's making it hard to think of the man as a power hungry opportunist who's doing all of this just to get Coulson's job.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees the exasperated look on Mack's face as the mechanic takes a seat at the table as well now. For a moment Hunter thinks he might have even been rolling his eyes, clearly not even trying to hide his own opinion on this matter.

Not that that wasn't obvious already anyway, he thinks bitterly, remembering the team's shouting match in the lab during Skye's quarantine all too clearly. He also remembers how he took Mack's side against Coulson and May that day, sticking up for his friend as he always does, no matter if he agrees with him or not.

As he always _did_, Hunter quickly corrects himself, his anger spiking again as he shakes his head and leans forward, addressing the tall agent directly now.

"This is rubbish. Maybe you've drunk the conspiracy kool-aid, but there's not a chance in hell Bobbi would ever bow down to any of this..." he emphasises, only to trail off as he hears the door behind him open, knowing instinctively that _she_ is standing there without even having to look.

_Figures._


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: **In a way my main Huntingbird story 'Poison' is so much nicer to write, because despite of all the drama that's happening there, too, at least Hunter's and Bobbi's relationship is actually improving and he doesn't constantly want to strangle her. At least not more than usual. ;) But as this story really helps me deal with all those raw emotions in the show at the moment, it's a lot of fun to write, too!

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**Trapped In A Maze - Chapter 2**

He turns his head and yes, of course it's Bobbi standing there, their eyes meeting as she looks back at him. For a moment, however, it's as if he doesn't even recognise her; at least not as the same woman he once married.

This woman's lips are hard, her expression schooled into an emotionless mask, and her eyes are like those of a stranger, not a hint of familiarity in them as she regards him with what he can only describe as cold detachment.

Bobbi's rigidness finally breaks as she looks over at the agents at the table and then moves to close the door behind her. She gives him another brief glance before heading over to sit next to Mack, and at this point Hunter notices something else. Something in the way she is taking a deep breath and how each of her looks and movements seem to be so incredibly guarded.

She is tense, too, probably even more than him.

Not that he would care about that, of course, or if that would change anything.

He follows her with his eyes as she moves around the table, vaguely noticing the expressions of the other SHIELD agents. Gonzales and two of the others are calm, the looks on their faces not betraying what they're thinking. The bald guy, Tomás, is actually smirking right now – this time Hunter _really _wants to punch him – and Mack is looking at him with an almost condescending expression clearly stating 'you were saying?' after his denial just seconds ago that Bobbi could not be part of any of this.

Now this is just lovely, Hunter thinks, furious with his ex-wife already, without her having said a single word to him yet. He's actually contemplating the possibility that Bobbi has been standing behind that door for a while, waiting for him to say something stupid like this, just so she could make him look like even more of a fool.

He knows the thought is childish, but at this point he honestly wouldn't put it past her to ridicule him on purpose. After all, after everything she's done to him so far, why not add this one more blow to the list as well?

He keeps looking at her in silence for another moment, but as it's quickly becoming obvious that Bobbi isn't going to be the one who breaks the quiet, he decides to go first. His words are surprisingly diplomatic considering the turmoil of emotions raging within him right now.

"Perhaps we could have discussed this alone..." he begins, doing a helpless, shrugging motion with his hands, "without all of Hufflepuff looking on."

Preferably at some point before Mack forced him into a choke hold, Hunter muses, making him think he was going to die. Or maybe even before he allowed her to once again fool him into believing she actually cared about him. But obviously that would have been too much to ask.

"Hunter... please." Her words are somewhere between an actual request and a warning, and whatever last sliver of hope he might have still had that she would help him, that she would be on his side in all of this, is gone in an instant. Because if this is all she has to say to him right now, after he's been assaulted, chained up and kidnapped, then clearly there is no use in even talking to her anymore.

He briefly notices that even Gonzales lowers his eyes at this point. Well, maybe at least someone in this room still has some decency left, Hunter thinks, and focuses back on the older man. He makes himself comfortable in his chair, his feet propped up on the table out of some stubborn desire to make sure that none of these people can miss the disdain he has for them.

"Okay, then. Indoctrinate away," he says and it's more of a challenge, really, than the actual willingness to listen to their side of the story.

Gonzales doesn't seem to care about his attitude, though, and as he starts to talk, he obviously knows exactly what to say, how to punch right through Hunter's defences.

"It may come as a surprise to you, but I was very close to Isabelle Hartley."

Hearing Izzy's name hurts, he can't deny that, but Gonzales is being naïve if he thinks this would actually surprise him. Somewhere between his own friend attacking him and being held prisoner by a second SHIELD organisation, Hunter has stopped being surprised by anything. While he can't say it isn't painful to hear that even Izzy was in on all this, after everything he has found out so far, it's actually more of a confirmation of what he already knows than anything even remotely resembling actual news.

He makes a mental note that he really has to re-evaluate his friends list if he ever makes it out of this, but seeing as Bobbi was the one who introduced him and Izzy in the first place, it's clearly only natural that she was lying to him all this time as well.

"You see, she saved my life in this very facility," Gonzales goes on, and Hunter isn't sure anymore if the sadness in the man's voice is just part of an act, or if he really misses the dead agent as much as the mercenary does.

"You're not the first person Izzy helped out of a pinch," Hunter finally interrupts him angrily, trying to stop the SHIELD agent from playing his connection to Isabelle Hartley against him. The attempt backfires, however, as Gonzales continues in a decisive and also regretful tone.

"But I may have been the last."

Hunter wants to say something in return, make some sarcastic remark to deflect the topic of Izzy's death and prove that the older man's words aren't getting to him the way they are, but he can't. He hasn't allowed himself to think about those events for a long time now, but suddenly it's all back: Izzy's screams after she touched the obelisk, the blood when he cut off her infected arm and the hollow look in her eyes as she lay next to him, dead, after the car crash.

"By all accounts Isabelle's death could have been avoided," Gonzales continues and Hunter is almost grateful for that, as the man's voice pulls him back out of his thoughts. Without really thinking about it, he looks over at Bobbi, where he sees his own regret reflected in her expression. At least with her he knows that it's not an act, that she misses their friend, too.

"If Agent Coulson hadn't been so relentless in his pursuit of alien tech," the old man points out, his voice as friendly and reasonable as ever.

Hunter doesn't even know why, but something about this observation is making him uncomfortable and he starts shifting in his chair, sitting back upright again. He knows exactly that this is just what they want, that they want to hit him where it hurts and get a reaction out of him as they continue to paint Coulson in a bad light, but for some reason he just can't help being affected by what he's hearing.

As the only woman in the triumvirat next to Gonzales now picks up where he left off and starts listing all the things that went wrong in Puerto Rico: Trip's death, Raina's transformation and whatever the hell happened to Skye. Each of her arguments hits Hunter like a punch to the gut, as he knows that from a certain point of view all of these things can be blamed on Coulson.

Somewhere along the line he has lost his cool and aloof demeanour and now he's sitting in his chair hunched over, leaning on the table heavily. No matter how desperately he wants to deny it, a part of him has to admit that these people do seem to have a point, because so far he hasn't been able to counter any of their arguments.

"And all because of Coulson's search for a city that his own alien writing drove him to find," Gonzales himself concludes now, and this time Hunter is relieved that he is finally able to say something in return. He grabs at the opportunity like a lifeline, doing his best not to go under in the onslaught of arguments he is faced with.

"Yeah, he's put all that scribbling behind him." It's the only thing he can honestly say in Coulson's defence and even to his own ears it sounds weak. It's no surprise really that Tomás, who is clearly as much a fan of Hunter as he is of him in return, has only a sarcastic remark to offer in reply.

"This is not a decision that we arrived at lightly," Gonzales continues, ignoring his colleague.

At this point Hunter glances over at Bobbi once again, and just going by the serious, almost sad look in her eyes, he knows that her boss is telling the truth. They didn't form this conspiracy against Coulson on a whim, or out of the sheer desire for more power.

"I know Coulson. He was a good agent. At least he was before Fury injected him with alien DNA," Gonzales explains. "Ever since, his behaviour's grown increasingly more troubling."

Hunter is starting to feel like a child being berated for his stupid decisions by one of the grown-ups and it's infuriating, really. At the same time, though, he knows how weakened his position is and that there is nothing he can say or do to stop all of this.

"Can you honestly tell me that you don't share any of these concerns?" Gonzales finally falls silent and Hunter actually needs a moment to collect himself again to be able to come up with an answer.

He can feel the eyes of everyone in the room resting on him, waiting for him to reply. Especially Bobbi and Mack seem to be urging him to agree, to say that what they are doing is right and that everything is forgiven, but he thinks that deep down they must already know that he can't do that.

"I won't deny you have a few good points," he finally admits, his hands folded tightly. "But why not just take it up with the man himself?" It's a simple enough question, and he knows that normal people would have done exactly what he just proposed; but of course these aren't normal people.

These are spies, and where your average run-of-the-mill mercenary sees nothing but a simple problem with a simple solution, all they see is angles. Games to play and secrets to keep.

"We wanted all the facts first," Gonzalez replies, not missing a beat.

"Which is what Bobbi and I have been doing ... gathering intel," Mack elaborates, effectively confirming Hunter's thoughts and reminding him again what his main issue with this entire situation is.

It's not that these people have a problem with Coulson; that he can understand even though he doesn't completely agree with it. It's all the spy stuff. All the lying and backstabbing, while hiding behind platitudes and the so-called greater good. He's been fed all those lines far too many times before. Which brings him back to the one person who hasn't really said anything to all of this yet.

"Bobbi, you're an awfully quiet member of this coup d'etat. What's your take?" he asks, focusing on his ex-wife.

Just like him before, she takes a moment to reply, most definitely realising that Hunter is not the only one waiting eagerly to hear her answer.

"I believe they're right," she finally says, but even though he can't really point out what it is, there seems to be something off with her voice, as if she has chosen her words a little too carefully and not just for his benefit. "Coulson has been compromised."

It's Bobbi's final verdict, and even though he finds it strange how distant and professional her answer was, in contrast to the almost heartfelt arguments Gonzales and his goons have made before, Hunter knows better than to try and interpret anything into what she just said.

A part of him might be telling him right now that she is lying, that she is not so on board with this entire plan to go up against Coulson as she pretends to be, but if the last twenty-four hours have taught him anything, it's that he never has a clue what this woman is actually up to. He knows it's about time for him to give up on even trying to figure her out anymore.

Hunter has worked with many agents over the years, most of them extremely talented, but he has never met a single other person who seemed to have been born to be a spy as much as Bobbi Morse. This might not be the first time that he regrets ever letting her into his life, but he promises himself that it will be the last. That he won't make the same mistake again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Trapped In A Maze - Chapter 3**

He's not sure how long it's been since they left him alone in here, in their fancy little conference room, to – as Gonzales put it – _give him some time to think about where his loyalties should lie_, but he is getting more restless with every passing second. When the group left, he was still sitting at the table, trying to wrap his head around everything he had just heard, but by now he is pacing the room, repeatedly running a hand through his short hair.

He knows that Gonzales' final words were only part of the truth. Him and his people were probably discussing the next step in their plan to overthrow Coulson at this very moment, but trapped in here Hunter can't do anything to stop them, or to warn his team as he knows he has to.

He's pretty sure that at least Bobbi doesn't want to hurt any of the others – she's definitely grown rather fond of the Simmons girl after all – but he also knows that that is not going to stop her from doing what she thinks is necessary. And if Mack was willing to choke the living daylights out of _him_ just to maintain his cover, Hunter can only imagine what he might do to the rest of the team to fulfil his orders.

Coulson, May, Skye, Simmons and even Fitz, they're all in danger right now and he knows that whatever these 'real' SHIELD people are up to, because of him it might happen a lot sooner than originally planned. He has no idea what exactly they are going to do, except that it can't be anything good. Whatever Bobbi's and Mack's orders are, however, he can only assume that his interference must have thoroughly messed up their timetable.

They probably found some excuse to explain his sudden disappearance – he can already imagine Bobbi spinning some bullshit story about them having a fight and him leaving to drown himself in a bottle of whiskey – but the longer he is gone, the more sceptical Coulson and his team might become. He can't image that is something the 'real' SHIELD will be willing to risk.

They are going to make their move soon, and with every minute he's trapped in here, the door locked, guards posted outside, the clock is ticking down and he is getting more and more desperate to find a way out, to escape from this base and get back to the SHIELD he knows. The SHIELD he was already happily working for before his ex-wife ever waltzed back into his life and that he made the decision to stay with, for more reasons than just to be with her.

His thoughts are suddenly interrupted by the clicking of the door lock and a brief second later, _she _enters the room slowly, alone this time and at least having the decency to look upset about the entire situation.

He swallows hard as she leans back against the now closed door, but other than that, neither his face nor his body language betray any of his emotions. He might be anything but calm at the moment, but that doesn't mean he has to show it, not even to Bobbi. Or maybe especially not to her.

Going by the way his ex-wife is looking at him right now with what might just be the guiltiest and most distraught expression he has ever seen on her face, this time it is actually her who doesn't seem to be able, or maybe willing, to hide her emotions. Of course a small part of him already suspects that this might just be another of her ploys, a way to make him lower his defences. However, even though he knows this would be the smartest theory to go with, in the end he just can't bring himself to believe that she could possibly be that cruel and calculating, not even now.

"I'm sorry," Bobbi finally says, once she must have realised that this time Hunter wouldn't be the one to go first, and her words sound absolutely sincere. They always do, though, and they both know it, so for a moment he actually wonders what the point of all this is, what she's trying to achieve by apologising. Even if he does believe her, it's a little late to say how sorry she is now that all the cards are on the table.

"You could have just told me, Bob," he replies, his voice tense and disappointed, but otherwise surprisingly collected.

"I was hoping to keep you out of this," she answers in return and he scoffs in reaction to the ridiculousness of that statement.

Right, keep him out of all this, now _that _worked out great, didn't it? If the situation wasn't this serious, he might be laughing right now about how – for once – one of Bobbi's master plans _didn't_ work out the way she planned it. Considering the circumstances, however, even he can't bring himself to muster up the humour.

At least she recognises how thoroughly her efforts have backfired as she lowers her eyes and let's her head fall to her chest for a second.

"You're right. I totally blew that one," she admits, a smile ghosting over her lips at what might just be the understatement of the decade.

Somehow it's this simple display of emotion, this small hint that hidden underneath the cold, professional agent exterior there is actually still a real person – maybe even the woman he cares so much about – that disrupts the tension in the room, causing Hunter to relax his stance as he nods in agreement.

Bobbi has stepped away from the door now and approaches him slowly. The tone of her voice and the look on her face are still filled with regret as she begins explaining how his involvement in all this started. That she only recommended him to Coulson, because Hartley needed backup; that she never expected him to become this invested in the affairs of SHIELD and that finally the situation escalated before she was able to stop him from asking too many questions.

Despite his determination to remain sceptical about everything that comes out of his ex-wife's mouth, in the end he finds himself believing her. Although her explanations are a lot less adventurous than he somehow expected them to be.

Izzy was a friend to both of them, so it makes sense that Bobbi would have wanted someone she could trust to join her team. As he knows himself and his usual hesitancy to fully commit to a job, it's also hardly a surprise that she didn't expect him to care so much about Coulson and this team. How could she have anticipated that he would stay with them for as long as he did, even after his main reason to come on board in the first place had died.

It's true, he never dedicated himself like this to a job before, not even when he was still with the SAS. While back then he did stay with the regiment for longer than he had originally signed up for, that was mostly because of the lack of an alternative. After he had met Bobbi, Izzy and Mack, a whole new world opened up for him and he soon traded the military life for that of a mercenary and never looked back.

Unlike Bobbi, he usually doesn't commit himself to a job, only to people. Just this one time he actually seems to have made an exception and completely unintentionally did both. However, seeing how this 'committing himself to people' is turning out for him recently, he wonders if it's not time for him to thoroughly rethink his usual strategy and delete the personal factor from the equation altogether.

He knows that that is not a problem to solve right now, though, and so he concentrates back on the conversation at hand. He moves over to sit on the edge of the table as he recalls the hours he spent tied up in the trunk of Mack's car, with no idea where he was headed or what was going to happen to him.

"Least fun road trip of my life." He scoffs once more, but by now the tension is gone from his voice. Even without directly saying it, it's obvious that he's conceding, admitting that Bobbi's story is believable, if not even understandable.

She clearly feels the shift in the atmosphere, too, as she replies back almost light-heartedly.

"Forgetting Arizona?" she asks, her eyebrows raised playfully.

Yeah, right, as if he can ever forget about Arizona… He's pretty sure that even when he's old and senile – assuming he'll live long enough – those few days are still going to be seared into his mind long after the rest of his memories are gone.

"More like repressing the memory," he replies matter-of-factly, and for a moment it's just as if he's talking to _his _Bobbi again, chatting about their past adventures, or rather misadventures in this case, as if the last few days never happened.

He closes his eyes and frowns slightly as he thinks back to those horrible days in Arizona years ago, knowing that that was just one of countless hardships he and Bobbi went through together.

"Still can't listen to the Eagles without getting the chills," he admits and actually chuckles briefly as he looks over at her. She is smiling, too, but the look in her eyes is so utterly sad that it forces him right back to reality, to the here and now, and even the faintest laughter dies on his lips in an instant as his spirits plummet.

"I should have known it wouldn't work out between us." A part of him has known, of course, has kept warning him at every turn that he and Bobbi simply aren't meant to be; he just never listened. Now, however, he can't ignore the truth any longer, no matter how painful it is.

He's not sure if Bobbi wants to say something to this, if she wants to object, but he continues before she has the chance to say anything.

"I mean, we first hit it off when you were sent to steal intel from me." He shrugs helplessly at this point, unable to explain, really, how he could have ever thought that the woman in front of him would make a good partner in a relationship.

"Well, I made it worth your while," she replies with a suggestive grin, the sad look never leaving her eyes. He can't help but nod in agreement, even though the expression on his face is far from happy.

Because this is it really, this is what it comes down to, the one reason why they are always drawn back to each other over and over again.

_Fun was never a problem for us._

_No, you're right. That part was always easy._

_Till things go south._

"Time of my life, really," he answers in a sad tone. Even though Bobbi is smiling at his words, her eyes still look like she is about to cry and it only gets worse as he continues.

"But maybe not the bedrock foundation upon which a marriage is built."

He wishes it hadn't taken him this long to say this out loud, to really admit it not just to Bobbi, but also to himself. Maybe then he would have kept his distance when she came back into his life, or he would have just walked away to avoid the inevitable relapse. Either way, he has the feeling that he wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for that tiny stubborn part of him that always keeps believing in a possible future with Bobbi.

"Everything I felt for you..." she begins with an imploring look as she moves forward and places her hand on his arm gently, "that was real."

The expression on her face is desperate now, almost needy, and he can feel how much she wants him to believe her. If he's being honest, though, him not believing her isn't really the problem here. They are far beyond that stage by now, he's just not sure if Bobbi has realised that yet.

"Yeah, maybe so..." he admits, sounding utterly defeated. He takes a deep breath as he just looks at his ex-wife for a moment, almost afraid to finish his sentence. He knows how painful it is to bring up the past now, not just for him, but for Bobbi, too. "But in the end, you still got that intel, didn't you?"

It wasn't really meant to be an accusation, but it does come out as one, and Bobbi lowers her eyes as she briefly shakes her head.

"Hunter..." she starts weakly, but then trails off again immediately, clearly not knowing what else to say. It's in this moment that it finally hits him:

Even after all this time, after everything they've been through, Bobbi is still unable to apologise for anything of what she did to him. As far as her work is concerned, she just cannot admit that anything she did might have been wrong; that between him and SHIELD, she could have chosen him just _once_ without losing her integrity as an agent or whatever else she might have always been afraid of and probably still is.

There's no humour in the laugh that escapes him at the thought and for a moment he can't do anything but shake his head and shrug helplessly.

"It's always the same pattern, love. I fall for you, only to discover you got something else up and running."

"There was no hidden agenda with you," Bobbi replies back instantly, and it infuriates him how even now she can be acting so blatantly ignorant while all her lies and secrets are coming to the surface.

"Yeah, you say things like that, but your actions clearly suggest otherwise," he objects as he stands back up to face her directly. He's had it by now with how Bobbi always seems to be saying one thing while at the same time doing the exact opposite.

His mind wanders back once more to their shouting match outside the lab right before they started sleeping with each other again. Her assertion that her usual spy games would stop with _him_ seemed so utterly sincere back then and the knowledge that she was lying to him all this time just riles his temper up even further.

"Can't you just meet me halfway?" He's completely exasperated by now and for a moment it seems as if he is really getting through to her; as if he's not the only one who wishes for a way to go back, to make all of this undone.

"I want to," Bobbi bursts out, sounding increasingly desperate. "Just tell me how."

Her words sound absolutely sincere, but they always do and they both know it. So even as he goes on to answer her, to tell her that all she has to do is to walk away with him and start over, leave this entire SHIELD mess behind, deep down he wonders what the point of all this is. What is he trying to achieve by imploring her?

His emotions are threatening to get the better of him as he is basically begging Bobbi to decide herself for him. Yet, he already knows that even if a part of her might actually want to go with him and be a new, a better person, it's far too late for them now that all the pieces have started falling into place.

Nevertheless, he keeps looking at her expectantly as she hesitates, his eyes searching hers for any sign that he might be mistaken. Her mouth opens and closes briefly, but in the end her reply isn't really a surprise, no matter how much it still hurts to hear it.

"I'm sorry," Bobbi tells him and he knows she means it. That doesn't change how much her words are killing him, though, because it's just their divorce all over again. When she has to make the decision between him and SHIELD he will always come out on the short end. It was always that way and he doesn't even know why he expected this time to be any different.

"I need to finish this," she says and he finally accepts that this is the end of it. They are over and there is nothing left for him to save here. However, as Bobbi's words are still echoing in his mind, he realises that she isn't the only one who has to finish something; he does, too.

He meant it when he said just seconds ago that he was willing to leave it all behind to be with her. As Bobbi so clearly doesn't feel the same way, though, the least he can do is to go back to SHIELD – the _actual _'real' SHIELD, as far as he's concerned – and warn them about Gonzales and whatever he and his people are planning.

Hunter needs a moment to compose himself again, to conceal how much her decision has hurt him, but in the end there is little more than acceptance in his voice as he replies.

"Fine… but I'm leaving, Bob." After all the times he's gone over his escape route in his head, he's absolutely certain that he can make it, that he is _going to_ make it, no matter what. The main obstacle so far was the locked door to this room, but as his ex-wife has so kindly taken care of that for him, there is only her left standing in his way now.

"So don't try and stop me." It's both an order and a warning. While he's briefly afraid that she might go up against him after all, they both know that after everything she's put him through, she owes him this one favour if nothing else.

Bobbi doesn't meet his eyes as she finally replies, a brief shake of her head accompanying her answer.

"I won't."

He looks at her for another second, both waiting for her to say something else, as well as trying to think of something to say in return. In the end, however, he just sighs in defeat as he moves past her, heading for the exit.

"Everybody else will," Bobbi warns him just before he opens the door. While he's certainly grateful for that, it's not like he didn't expect to find the guards waiting for him.

He's slightly surprised by one of them already having a taser gun at the ready, but he reacts quickly, grabbing the man and shoving him across the table before taking on the second agent. Even as Bobbi is telling him that there is nowhere to go, he refuses to believe it. A few well aimed kicks and punches later, the guards are on the ground, out cold, while he is on his way out of here, her voice sounding behind him.

"Damn it, Hunter!"

He almost chuckles at the annoyed tone with which she says his name, but in the end he is far too focused on finding his way out of this maze of corridors to spare Bobbi any more thoughts. He is trying to reverse his steps from earlier, to remember each door he passed, every corner he turned. To his relief it seems to be working, as a few moments later he finds himself in that weird control room again, the agents sitting at their computers looking up at him in mild surprise.

For a moment he tries to act natural, as if he's supposed to be here, but then his nerves go out and he's running again, out of the room and into the next corridor behind it. After that it's just around two more corners and he finally finds himself in front of a solid metal door. He doesn't lose a second before he starts turning the wheel on the inside to open it.

Despite Bobbi's earlier warning, however, he's not really prepared for the sight of an aircraft carrier – or maybe it's even a helicarrier, he's not sure – underneath him as he bursts out into the open. He comes to a sudden halt as he realises that Bobbi's final words to him weren't a lie after all.

There really _is_ nowhere to go.

"_Bloody hell."_

– The End –


End file.
